Workers Find Flight Data Recorder, Body Parts At Everglades Crash Site Sharpshooter Keeps Eye Out For Alligators During Search

With a sharpshooter scouting for alligators and poisonous snakes, recovery workers Monday recovered the flight data recorder from ValuJet Flight 592, along with disintegrated plane parts and human remains no bigger than a knee.

Workers brought in heavy equipment, teams of divers walked side by side, searching the murky swamp inch by inch, and Navy salvage specialists used sonar to look for the plane’s black box recorders.

The data recorder, which could yield clues to the cause of the crash, was being taken to National Transportation Safety Board headquarters in Washington for analysis. NTSB spokesman Mike Benson said he did not know the condition of the recorder.

Benson said he was not sure whether the cockpit voice recorder had been recovered.

By midday seven body bags of remains had been removed.

“I don’t hold any hope we’ll find any recoverable large parts of people,” said retired Dade County Medical Examiner Joseph Davis, who is taking part in the investigation.

Victims’ relatives grew restive.

“They should have had a crane or a radar or something. They’ve got that kind of equipment,” said Raquel Perry, daughter-in-law of crash victim Wilhemina Perry of Miami. “By the time they get out there, with those alligators and stuff, she’ll be all ate up.”

The Atlanta-bound DC-9 crashed Saturday shortly after takeoff from Miami’s airport with 104 passengers and five crew members. The crew radioed urgently about smoke in the cockpit and cabin before the tower lost contact.

Investigators said the recovery of the wreckage would be slow because of the difficult conditions: heat in the mid-80s, swarms of mosquitoes and horseflies, razor-sharp sawgrass, and water 6 inches to 5 feet deep over mud that some locals estimate is 30 to 40 feet deep.

“This is tough stuff out there,” National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Robert Francis said.

CBS News reported that the Federal Aviation Administration was to be investigated as part of an overall probe being conducted in the wake of the crash by the Department of Transportation.

CBS said the Department of Transportation was looking into the possibility the FAA knew Valuejet was headed for trouble before the crash. The network said the FAA declined to comment on the probe.

ValuJet Airlines stock dropped sharply Monday, the first day of trading since the crash and also the first day of intensified federal scrutiny of the Atlanta-based carrier. It closed on the Nasdaq Stock Market down $4.18-3/4 a share at $13.68-3/4.

At the scene Monday, about 30 divers in rubberized suits to protect them from skin-irritating jet fuel walked through the water in shifts that lasted only 15 to 20 minutes because of the grueling conditions. A marksman accompanied them to watch for alligators and water moccasins.

The searchers filled bags with aircraft parts and human remains that Metro-Dade police Cmdr. Al Harper said were no bigger than a knee.

“They’re actually recovering fingers and hands and feet,” Harper said. “It would be traumatic for even the most seasoned homicide detective.”

Davis cautioned that it could take up to a week to identify victims and that some might never be identified. A forensic anthropologist and a forensic dentist will help the medical examiner’s office.

Davis said it was possible some of the passengers were conscious when the plane nose-dived into the Everglades about 15 miles from the airport. But the husband of pilot Candalyn Kubeck said he thought the crew was unconscious.

“They passed out from the smoke, based on that eyewitness report that the angle never varied. If that’s correct, they were obviously incapacitated,” said Roger Kubeck, a pilot at America West Airlines.

Candalyn Kubeck, 35, was believed to be the first female captain of a commercial jet to be killed in a U.S. crash.

NTSB officials said a fragment of the plane 8 feet long was the largest they had seen. Both engines were found in about 2 feet of water.

Also Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration began an intensive review of ValuJet. FAA inspectors were to ride in ValuJet cockpits and review the company’s maintenance facilities for the next month.